Early December
Much to my surprise, the foot of snow we had in November, melted away in a few days, and we have been blessed with an unusually mild start to the Season. After two brutally cold and snowy Winters, we are hoping to get off a little easier this time!
I bought this African Violet several months ago and had almost given up hope of it blooming. I think it was worth the wait!
Having trouble keeping up with the blog these days. Along with the usual busyness of the Holiday Season, health issues with my husband seem to have us spending much of our time in doctors’ offices and labs.
The sixth specialist we have seen did not have good news for us, but at least seems to have come up with a diagnosis, and a hope that there may be a treatment which will bring him some relief.
Crossing Over
Once more, family health issues have kept me away from the blog. On December 9th, my husband had surgery, and is still in the hospital.
For some time now, my Mother’s health has declined, and at 98 she was not willing to endure much in the way of medical intervention. Around midnight on Thursday, she passed away quietly in the loving care of a remarkable Adult Foster Care Home and Hospice, who stepped in when I could no longer care for her.
It is a sad time, but it is good to know she is no longer enduring the aches, pains, and sheer indignities of failing health, and can enjoy a well-earned rest.
I believe she will continue to watch over us all, and am doing my best to honor her memory.
More Medical Adventures
There was a light dusting of snow when we walked at the Nature Conservancy on Sunday, and in the last few days the lakes have almost completely frozen over. It is going to be a long Winter!
Just as I was getting on my feet after my surgery, my husband came down with a serious throat infection and landed in the hospital for a couple of days. He is home now on enough antibiotic and anti-inflammatory pills to choke a horse, but is looking and feeling better.
The blog has had to take a back seat to all these emergencies, but I hope to catch up soon.
Home Safe
Some wild weather last weekend brought down this tree in the Nature Conservancy. Here in Michigan we were not hit as hard as Indiana and Illinois, but high winds took out power all over the state. Ours was out for about five hours, but we consider ourselves fortunate, as some areas were out for several days.
My surgery on Tuesday went better than we had hoped and I was able to come home the following day. If the surgery had been more extensive, I would have been in hospital for five days, and I really wasn’t looking forward to that!
Our daughter has made the trip from Canada to help out during my convalescence, and we are enjoying some quality time with her. I was looking forward to enjoying some of her excellent cooking, but the doctor has me on a liquid diet for a week! I can eat almost anything I want as long as it is pureed, and the food really loses its eye appeal once you have done that to it! 🙂
Beautiful Sunsets
The unseasonably cold and cloudy weather we have been experiencing for the past couple of weeks has at least provided us with some interesting cloud formations and beautiful sunsets. As so often happens in Michigan we have gone from unseasonably warm temperatures to colder than normal. We are all scrambling to dig out our winter clothes and relearning the benefits of ‘layering’.
Our Fall has been less colorful than usual, but I am finding some beautiful reds and yellows here and there. Many of the leaves have already fallen, which makes moving quietly through the woods impossible, so I am less likely to spot wildlife. They can hear me coming from a mile away!
My medical adventures are not quite over, and I am finding it difficult to keep up with my blog. Although my first biopsy was negative, there is still a possibility that the tumor is malignant, so it has to come out. I am scheduled for surgery on November 19th, and it will take a week or more for path. reports to come back, so I remain in a sort of limbo. I am trying to stay positive, but it is very hard to deal with all this uncertainty.
I feel like Schrödinger’s Cat! (physicists and Big Bang Theory fans will know what I mean!) 🙂
Searching for Color
We are not having a very colorful Fall so far this year. Perhaps this is the price we must pay for the unseasonably warm weather we have been enjoying.
Things are changing now, and yesterday was cold, wet and gloomy, but the sky cleared overnight and the sun is back today, but with temperatures more Fall-like than we have had for the past couple of weeks.
I did find some colorful Maples on our walk this morning, and will keep the camera with me as I run errands today.
Good and bad news on my biopsy. It is not cancer, but I am to meet with a surgeon on Monday to ‘discuss options’, so it looks like I am not through with doctors and hospitals just yet! I just hope Monday will bring some definite answers and not just lead to more tests.
Life Lessons
Until recently I thought Cancer was something that happened only to other people. Now as I await results of a biopsy, I am amazed at how shocked I am to be facing it myself. Whatever made me think I was immune? I am surrounded by people who have or are battling this most dreaded of diagnoses, including my husband, my parents, my brother-in-law and my former boss, just to name a few, but somehow I never thought it could happen to me.
It is brought home to me once more, how suddenly our lives can be turned upside down. We own nothing in this world – not even our own lives. In an instant, fire, flood, accidents, disease can destroy all that we hold dear.
This week I and a group of retired co-workers had the opportunity to visit with our former boss, who is waging his own battle against cancer. His parting word to each of us was ‘Celebrate’!
We should try to celebrate and find joy in each moment, because it is all any of us really have. There is no telling what lies around the next bend in the road.
With this in mind, I walked Abbie in the Nature Conservancy this morning, taking the time to enjoy the peace and quiet of the woods and trails.
jbcamera 